News & Current Events

In 2015, we celebrated our five year Anniversary. Five years of challenges, of hard work, and of impact. With thousands of volunteer hours, numerous loyal supporters and the amazing work of our Peru Director Ian and founder Alan, Alma was able to improve the quality of education for thousands of children. 5,000 children to be […]

On June 24th, we celebrated our 5th anniversary in style! We had perfect weather, a perfect venue and a room full of the perfect people to celebrate with: our friends and supporters. Thanks to you, we had our most successful event yet, and raised over $40,000! And thanks to our incredibly generous sponsors, all our […]

Each year our friends and supporters look forward to the annual Alma party – and this year is no exception! Please join us on June 24th at Toronto’s Historic Fort York. The event is family friendly and each ticket includes all-you-can-eat authentic Peruvian food. To celebrate our 5th anniversary, there will be lots of surprises […]

Last December, we were excited and honoured to be one of three charities chosen by Country Walkers for their 35th Anniversary celebration. Country Walkers is a worldwide tour operator based in Vermont. In honour of their 35th anniversary, they decided to donate a total of $35,000 to three charities and Alma was one of the lucky […]

If you’ve noticed that we’re much more active on Facebook and posting blogs a lot more regularly these days, it’s because we’ve got a fantastic volunteer helping us out! Olga Melnikova joined the Alma volunteer team last year after hearing about us through a friend. Here’s what Olga had to say […]

Haga clic aquí para el texto original en Español . Children portrayed the birth of Jesus in a play. They also sang Christmas carols as a way of demonstrating their adoration for infant Jesus. At Sariry, these activities provide a space for reflection on human values, family life and the rights of infants. On these […]

The Sariry Foundations works with children and teenagers that come from the families usually characterized by the absence of one or two parents. Often this is the case because both parents leave home for work, or in other cases the farther abandons the family or dies. In this situation the basic needs of the family (such as […]

December 2014 not only closed out the year, but also brought to a close some of Alma’s earliest projects. A key piece of our sustainable project policy is to eventually pass the projects off to the communities themselves. Each year, the communities we work in take more and more responsibility for the coordination and administration […]

When I started this charity five years ago I didn’t give too much thought to the name. I chose “Alma” because in Spanish it means “soul” and has a deep spiritual meaning. I had encountered it often in Spanish literature and poetry and liked the sound of the word. However, it doesn’t translate well […]

We talk a lot about creating a link between fun activities and academic metrics as a way of reinforcing and enriching the lessons in the classroom. It is, in fact, the very basis of many of our newer projects (and some still yet to come)! Nevertheless, it is sometimes hard to fully grasp what we […]

Outside of Urubamba there is the dusty “slum” of Cotiwincho. It is so awful that it is referred to by locals as “Afghanistan”. However, even in this place there is a wonderful story. For 14 years at Mosoq Runa project Ada has been caring for children that were given up by abusive and/or absent parents. […]

Inaugural Alma Foundation Teachers Roundtable October 18, 2014 We felt that getting all of our teachers and partners together on a regular basis to share best practices, commiserate and celebrate would be a good idea. We also felt that turning these roundtables into “seminars” where we could also train the teachers creative […]

On Thursday, October 2nd, 2014 Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird, spoke to a full house at the National Club in Toronto, with proceeds from the event benefitting Alma. The Minister was generous with his time and shared some of the most poignant moments of his career. He also spoke about some of the human atrocities still being […]

While winter is just beginning in Peru, it is finally ending here in Canada. And after the winter we just had, that definitely calls for a celebration! On Wednesday, June 18th, 2014, Alma will be hosting its 3rd Annual “Island” Party. We’re bringing the party in-land this year, to the Steamwhistle Brewery, so we hope even […]

Normally I go to a website like Buzzfeed for a dose of ridiculous or inane content after (or during) a particularly frustrating day. But a friend recently shared a post that I thought was refreshingly out of character for the website. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the results from its triennial […]

I have seen Walter surrounded by adoring children in dusty villages in the high Andes, and embraced by mothers in the streets of Cusco. For anyone who has had an interest in improving education in Cusco province of Peru over the past 20 years, Walter Meekes and his charity HoPe, already have our recognition and […]

Back in June 2012, we held our inaugural Island Party Fundraiser, hoping for a way to bring our many friends and supporters together. With the goals of connecting past Alma supporters, and to celebrate all that you helped us achieve, we were excited to raise enough money to support a project for a full year […]